pandr
03-16-2012, 07:46 PM
Biffle's three of a kind leading the way
By Jim Utter -charlotteobserver
Thursday, Mar. 15, 2012
What a difference a year makes, or even an off-season.
Three weeks into the 2011 Sprint Cup Series season, Greg Biffle was 31st in the series standings with no finish better than 20th.
He enters this weekend’s Food City 500 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway as the series points leader. Most importantly, in three races this year, he hasn’t started worse than ninth and hasn’t finished worse than third.
In fact, he’s finished third in each race.
That encompasses three of the most different tracks the series has to over – the 2.5-mile superspeedway at Daytona, the 1-mile oval at Phoenix and 1.5-mile speedway at Las Vegas.
As it turned out, one Roush Fenway Racing team’s loss – the folding of the No. 6 team – has turned into another’s gain.
“We were waiting to see what was going to happen because it would determine whether we got a sponsor for the No. 6 or not, so if we had to downsize we were going to have a bunch of people that we could move internally around the company,” Biffle said.
“So Matt (Puccia, crew chief) got to really – with free rein, I think – got to pick the guys he wanted on the No. 16, so it’s all been Matt.
“Matt has done this whole thing himself with some guidance from the company.”
It’s quite a turnaround in performance and confidence for Biffle and his team.
His three top-five finishes already match his season total from last year. He’s led 46 laps in three races and led 351 all of last season.
“Last year we were on the other side of the deal. We had really fast cars, really, really good ones, but couldn’t close the deal. The year before, we made the Chase after starting the season with six top-10s in a row and didn’t have very fast cars,” Biffle said.
“Now, we’ve kind of put them both together. We’re having good pit stops. The caution flag isn’t coming out and trapping us a lap down or something after we’ve made a green-flag pit cycle.
“The confidence level is really, really high.”
And after Sunday’s third-place finish at Las Vegas, Biffle also believes he and his team have a good read on how they’ll stack up for the rest of the 2012 season.
“I think you can really look and say, ‘OK, our program is in pretty good shape. Let’s look at California,’ ” he said. “I mean, California is going to be a good indicator, too.
“That race track is old pavement and it’s a little bit more traditional, and that will give you some indication on how you’re going to be on those types of tracks.”
By then the Cup series will have appeared on every type of track outside of a road course.
Make no mistake, Biffle would much prefer a win by then. However, should the strong, consistent performances continue, that will itself mark a significant milestone.
Five races into 2011, Biffle was 20th in points with one Top-10 finish. He reached as high as 11th in May but without a victory was never in good position to cash in on a spot in the Chase for the Cup.
“Matt Puccia has got a good team together and really has this thing organized, and we’re even faster than we had been, so we’ve got a lot of things going for us,” Biffle said.
“I tell you what, it feels good.”
C/P Thats Racin
By Jim Utter -charlotteobserver
Thursday, Mar. 15, 2012
What a difference a year makes, or even an off-season.
Three weeks into the 2011 Sprint Cup Series season, Greg Biffle was 31st in the series standings with no finish better than 20th.
He enters this weekend’s Food City 500 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway as the series points leader. Most importantly, in three races this year, he hasn’t started worse than ninth and hasn’t finished worse than third.
In fact, he’s finished third in each race.
That encompasses three of the most different tracks the series has to over – the 2.5-mile superspeedway at Daytona, the 1-mile oval at Phoenix and 1.5-mile speedway at Las Vegas.
As it turned out, one Roush Fenway Racing team’s loss – the folding of the No. 6 team – has turned into another’s gain.
“We were waiting to see what was going to happen because it would determine whether we got a sponsor for the No. 6 or not, so if we had to downsize we were going to have a bunch of people that we could move internally around the company,” Biffle said.
“So Matt (Puccia, crew chief) got to really – with free rein, I think – got to pick the guys he wanted on the No. 16, so it’s all been Matt.
“Matt has done this whole thing himself with some guidance from the company.”
It’s quite a turnaround in performance and confidence for Biffle and his team.
His three top-five finishes already match his season total from last year. He’s led 46 laps in three races and led 351 all of last season.
“Last year we were on the other side of the deal. We had really fast cars, really, really good ones, but couldn’t close the deal. The year before, we made the Chase after starting the season with six top-10s in a row and didn’t have very fast cars,” Biffle said.
“Now, we’ve kind of put them both together. We’re having good pit stops. The caution flag isn’t coming out and trapping us a lap down or something after we’ve made a green-flag pit cycle.
“The confidence level is really, really high.”
And after Sunday’s third-place finish at Las Vegas, Biffle also believes he and his team have a good read on how they’ll stack up for the rest of the 2012 season.
“I think you can really look and say, ‘OK, our program is in pretty good shape. Let’s look at California,’ ” he said. “I mean, California is going to be a good indicator, too.
“That race track is old pavement and it’s a little bit more traditional, and that will give you some indication on how you’re going to be on those types of tracks.”
By then the Cup series will have appeared on every type of track outside of a road course.
Make no mistake, Biffle would much prefer a win by then. However, should the strong, consistent performances continue, that will itself mark a significant milestone.
Five races into 2011, Biffle was 20th in points with one Top-10 finish. He reached as high as 11th in May but without a victory was never in good position to cash in on a spot in the Chase for the Cup.
“Matt Puccia has got a good team together and really has this thing organized, and we’re even faster than we had been, so we’ve got a lot of things going for us,” Biffle said.
“I tell you what, it feels good.”
C/P Thats Racin